Here are some reasons why my fish friends and I recommend keeping or planting native plants (plants that grow naturally in this area) in your landscape:

• Native plants provide food and cover that Pacific Northwest mammals, birds, and other wildlife need to survive.
  
  
• Native plants are well-adapted to the northwest, which makes them hardier. They need little or no fertilizer, insecticides, or fungicides, so our streams stay clean.
  
  
• Native plants are adapted to our dry summers and need no additional watering once they develop a strong root system after two or three years.
  
  
• Native plants are beautiful and preserve our natural heritage.

Any way you look at it, native plants need little maintenance and will save you time and money!

Did you know? In the early 90's, it became illegal to remove any existing trees and native vegetation from banks of salmon-bearing streams (which include almost all Thurston County streams). Restrictions apply to the following buffer widths:

Olympia: within 75-100 feet from the stream
Lacey: Case-by-case assessment
Thurston County: within 100 feet from the stream
Tumwater: Case-by-case assessment

Big Leaf Maple

Trees Please!
Native Plants Get Our Vote
Slow the Flow
Muddy Water Blues
No Poisons Please

We've Been Slimed!
A Word About Waste
The Salmon Life Cycle
We're on the Go!
Contacts

• E-mail maunc@co.thurston.wa.us
• Call the Thurston County Storm & Surface
  Water Program at (360) 754-4681
  or TDD (360) 754-2933